Adopting a Critical Lens: A Conceptual Framework for Analyzing Local School Resources

Abstract

Current studies of school finance equity focus on quantitative approaches to understanding resource disparities. Analyses of school resources that capture stakeholder perceptions and values are better positioned to critically examine the historical, cultural, and political significance of different types of school resources. The purpose of this article is to advance a framework for analyzing school resources at the site level through a critical lens. We propose a novel conceptual framework, which we refer to as the “Critical School Level Resources” framework, to capture how local school stakeholders, specifically principals, teachers, and families, understand, allocate, and use school resources. Our hope is to see this framework push the field’s conceptualization of resources to include qualitative and critical approaches, in addition to quantitative or a-critical metrics, while incorporating more stakeholders in the evaluation of resources at their schools.